Key with ejector means



April 21, 1959 H. H. FURN KEY WITH EJECTOR MEANS Fild Aug. 26, 1955INVENTOR. HANS H. FUR N FIG.7

United States Patent "ice KEY WITH EJECTOR MEANS Hans H. Furn, Orange,NJ.

Application August 26, 1955, Serial No. 530,871

3 Claims. (Cl. 70-414) 7 This invention relates to locks which areoperable by inserting and turning a key, and more particularly itrelates to a simple attachment for the removable key which is adapted toprevent the key from being left in the lock when the lock is turned offand which serves also to detent the lock more positively'in on positionto prevent accidental shifting of the lock to off position.

An object of the invention is to provide an improvement for theremovable key for a lock which will provide assurance that the lock isused properly to fulfill better the purpose for which the lock isintended. Another object is to provide the key with a simple attachmentwhich will safeguard against inadvertent or accidental handling of thekey.

A lock by its very nature is intended to enable accessto or operation ofa device only by the person having thekey fitting the particular lock.People often defeat this purpose by leaving the key in the lock afterthe lock is turned off. For'instance, not infrequently people will leavethe ignition key in a car after turning off the ignition lock, therebyinducing car thefts. Still further, when locks become loose from wearthey may be jiggled into off position by vibration under conditions ofuse. An object of my invention is to prevent such inadvertences andmisoperations from occurring by use of a simple and inexpensiveattachment on the key of the lock.

Further objects are to provide a key with an attachment which willautomatically eject the key from the lock and into the hand of the useras the key is turned off and which will exert outward thrust on the keyto hold the lock mechanism firmly in position when the lock is in onposition.

These and other objects and features of my invention will be apparentfrom the following description and the appended claims.

In the description of my invention, reference is bad to the accompanyingdrawings, of which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a key device according to oneembodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is another perspective view of this key device showing the keyinserted in a lock mechanism and turned to on position, parts of thelock mechanism being dottedly shown;

Figure 3 is a side view of this key device'but with a foldable case forthe device broken away;

Figure 4 is an end view of the key device;

Figure 5 is a fractional perspective showing to enlarged scale thespring member of the key device;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 66 of Figure 3 andshowing the foldable case in nearly closed position; and

Figure 7 is a side view similar to that of Figure 3 but showing amodified form of my key attachment.

The present invention is described by way of example in connection witha type of rotatable cylinder lock 10 shown in Figure 2, such as iscommonly used, for example, as ignition locks. Such lock has astationary housing 11, dottedly shown, having a circular endface 12 pro-2,882,710 Patented Apr. '21, 1959;

vided with a key hole 13. This key hole leads into a rotatable plug 14adapted to receive the notched extending portion of a key 15. Along thekey hole there are wards for example in the form of a series of springurged plung ers for engaging the notches of the key. There are shown,for example, four plungers 1619 each comprising inner and outer sectionsreferred to by the reference numbers with the sufiix letters a and brespectively. When the lock is in oft position the plunger sections arealigned and extend well into the key space, thereby locking the plug 14against being rotated. However, when a key is inserted which has thecorrect notches for the respective lock the plungers are pressedoutwardly to points where the break lines between the plunger sectionsare just flush with the periphery of the plug; this condition allows theplug to be rotated by the key. As the plug is rotated the inner plungersections are moved out of alignment with the outer plunger sections(Figure 2) and are locked by abutment of their outer ends against thesurrounding wall of the housing. The interengagement of the inner endsof these locked plunger sections with the notches of the key serve tohold the key from being removed from the lock. A cam 20 on the end ofthe plug serves to operate the bolt or other mechanism as the key isturned.

In order to prevent accidental leaving of the key in the lock after thelock is turned off as well as to detent the lock more positively whenthe lock is turned on, I provide an improvement in the form of anattachment for the key. This attachment comprises a pressure bar 21having a clearance slot 22 receiving the notched extending portion ofthe key, and a spring 23 which interconnects this bar with the head orfingerpiece 15a of the key and holds the pressure bar near the end ofthe key. Preferably, a fiat spring comprising a plurality of thin springmembers are employed as shown in Figure 5 in order to give the springthe necessary strength together with the desired softness. The pressurebar is preferably provided with oppositely extending wings ofi'setbackwardly from the end of the key to provide it with fingerpieces 24.The ends of the spring 23 are riveted to the offsetting portions' of thepressure bar at 21a, and the spring is bowed arcuately around thefingerpiece 15a of the key. At its crown the spring'is secured by arivet 25 (Figure 6) to a bracket 26 having oppositely extending wingswhich are bent in U shape around the head of the rivet against theopposite sides of the fingerpiece of the key. The wings of the bracketare shaped to conform to the side edges of the fingerpiece, and one wingis provided with side flanges 27 to close the sides of the fingerpiece.A rivet 28 traverses the wings and fingerpiece to hold the bracketsecurely to the key.

Between the head of the rivet 25 and the bracket there is clamped anarrow plate 29 provided with a lug 30 which extends through a centralapertured portion of the bracket outwardly from the key. Secured by aneyelet or rivet 31 to this ear is a flexible folder 32 having twooppositely extending Wings for enveloping the key device to form a casetherefor. One wing of this folder has an extending flap 33 for closingoif the end of the key device and overlapping the other wing. This flapand the adjacent end portion of the other wing are provided withcomplementary press-type detent members 34 and 34a to enable the folderto be snapped closed as indicated in Figure 6.

To use the key device the folder is turned back as shown in Figure 2 andthe end of the key extending beyond the pressure bar 21 is inserted intothe keyhole. Thereupon, the key is inserted further through the distanceof the notched portion with the pressure bar bearing against the face 12of the lock, under influence of the resisting force of the spring 23,and with the spring compressed in the manner shown in Figure 2. When thekey has been so inserted it is turned to operate the lock.Alternatively, the spring 23 may first be compressed by force of thefingers against the fingerpieces 24 and the thumb against the'lug 30,and while so holding the spring compressed the key is, inserted andturned, and then the hand is removed.

When the hand is removed after turning the key to on position, thespring 23 acting through the pressure bar 21 serves to exert an outwardthrust on the key. This is beneficial in preventing a lock from beingaccidentally turned off by jiggling of the lock such as may occur duringuse. Further, and of especial importance, when the lock is turned offthis outward thrust serves to eject the key automatically into the handof the user. This not only facilitates removal of the key but more inn.portantly serves to safeguard against the user leaving thekeyaccidentally in the lock and, thus, against the useraccidentallyallowing unauthorized operation of; the lock.

In Figure 7 there is shown an alternative embodiment of my keyattachment which differs from the foregoing in the use of a helicalspring 35 instead of the fiat spring 23 between the pressure bar 21 andthe fingerpiece 15a of the key. This spring surrounds the notchedportion of the key at a clearance spacing therefrom, and is secured atits ends, as by welding, to the pressure bar 21 and bracket 26respectively.

In each of the foregoing embodiments a suitable opening 36 is providedin one or both of the wings of the bracket 26 to expose identifyingmarks or indicia on the fingerpiece of the key.

The embodiments of my invention shown in the accompanying drawings areintended as being illustrative and not necessarily limitative of myinvention since the same are subject to changes and modificationswithout departure from the scope of my invention, which I endeavour toexpress according to the following claims.

I claim:

1. A key device for a rotatable lock having means for retaining the keywhen the lock is in on position, said key device comprising a key havinga head portion and an extending notched portion adapted to be insertedin said lock for turning the same, a pressure member slidably embracingsaid notched portion, and a compression spring operatively interpsedbetween said pressure member and said head of the key comprising aplurality of superimposed flat resilient members bowed into a U formwith the crown thereof connected to said head portion and the endssecured to said pressure member for yieldably holding said pressuremember in position for pressure against said lock with movement thereoftowards said head and with compression of said spring to provide anejecting force on thkey as the key is inserted.

2. A key device for a rotatable lock mechanism having an end face with akeyhole therein, comprising a key having a fiat head and an extendingflat notched portion adapted to be inserted in said keyhole for turningthe lock, :1 pressure member at the end of the key having a centralclearance hole loosely receiving said notched portion, and a pluralityof superimposed leaf springs bowed into a U form and having their endportions connected to opposite sides of said pressure member and thecrown portion connected to said head for exerting pressure against saidend face tending to eject the key while the key is in the lockmechanism, said leaf springs and head lying in a common medial plane andsaid plurality of superimposed leaf springs being adapted to hold saidpressure member firmly in sidewise directions while having a softyieldability along said notched portion of the key enabling easyinsertion of the key into a lock mechanism.

3. A key device for a rotatable lock, comprising a key having a head andan extending notched portion adapted to be inserted in said lock forturning the same, a single pressure member slidably embracing saidnotched portion of the key, a compression spring comprising a pluralityof fiat bowed resilient members superimposed on each other and connectedat their ends to said pressure member and at their crown portion to saidhead for yieldably holding said pressure member in position wherein itwill press against said lock and be moved towards said head of the keywith compression of said spring as the key is inserted in the lockwhereby a force is exerted on the key for ejecting it from the lock whenthe key is released from the lock, and fingerpieces at opposite sides ofsaid pressure member offset therefrom towards said head for enablingsaid compression spring to be compressed prior to inserting the key byforce exerted by the hand between said fingerpieces and said head of thekey.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,974,953 Evans Sept. 25, 1934 2,271,048 Spiro Jan. 27, 1942 2,488,240Rumsey Nov. 15, 1949 2,498,288 Moebes et a1. Feb. 21, 1950 2,514,940Doss et a1. July 11, 1950 2,587,037 Glubiak Feb. 26,1952

